Recent content by Sutpen

I just opened up my last Midas Touch (seemed an appropriate accompaniment while reading the Aeneid), so that leaves...1.5 cases of Natural Light. What? I'm a college student.:o I've got a bottle of the '07 Stone Vertical Epic "cellaring," but I'm opening that up this weekend on bottling day. I...

Yeah, I really wish I'd had a hydrometer for this batch. Even without one, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have gotten any more fermentation-- nary a bubble for 3 days or so. I had heard of people who got a little more action after racking, and that set me thinking "hmm...could I try to give the...

Alright, I figured it wasn't a good idea. Thanks for confirming my fears, haha. I guess I shouldn't be complaining-- shaking the primary while it was full of wort was certainly the sweatiest part of the brewing process so far.

I've poked around the forums and a couple of books, and haven't seen any direct mention of shaking a secondary fermenter. I shook up the primary for 10 or 15 minutes after pitching the yeast, and I just racked to the secondary after about a week. I had kind of a weird fermentation, so I'm just...

Yeast can play some tricks on your digestive tract. That's the only explanation I can think of.

Hey, there are some kinds of Belgian beers (mainly lambics) that have a sour taste, but Belgian pales are not included in that category. Belgian pales are generally malty, almost sweet and a little spicy. At this point, I should advise you that I've never brewed a Belgian pale, but I've had many...

Thanks a lot for the info/encouragement, guys. gresc, I took your advice and stuck a blow-off tube on the fermenter, and there is indeed fermentation. I'm getting bubbles every 5 or 6 seconds. I guess I'll just let it take its course and see what happens. It smells really good, I know that much...

Some of you commented on my "first brewday" thread. I'm the guy who had to cover the pot with tin foil to get it to boil. Anyway, I've had this carboy sitting in my room since Monday night (technically very early Tuesday morning). No bubblies, no change in the appearance of the stuff. By now...

Thanks for the advice, all. I'd read that the wort shouldn't be kept covered during the boil, and I did keep a space open for some evaporation to take place, but my stove couldn't get the wort hot enough to get much of a boil going unless I covered most of it. I'm not expecting this batch to be...

Hey, I have a quick question if anybody's around. My stove/tin foil apparatus can get the wort up to just about 212, but i'm not getting any foam. In other words, there is definitely no risk of boiling over although the liquid is most definitely boiling. It's been almost twenty minutes since I...

So...it's now 11:29 PM. My housemates have gone to bed. I'm boiling my wort on the stove (definitely springing for a propane burner) and I don't have a top, so I'm using tin foil. Haha, it's a little thrown-together, but I've been pretty diligent with the sanitation, so hopefully things'll pan...

Hey thanks for all the sage advice, Beerific. It's much appreciated. Here's one more: when it comes time to sanitize, what's the best sanitizer to use? I know there are a bunch of sanitizers made for brewers, but is there anything wrong with using a little bit of bleach in a whole lot of water...

Yeah, that was LME. Haha, to be honest I feel like kind of a chump brewing with extract, so I'll do my best to accelerate my graduation to all-grain. I just need a few months to accumulate the money for the additional equipment... Anyone know where I can get less than 25 lbs of flaked oats at...

Ok, I have one of those big plastic things you stick kegs in and plenty of extra towels. Do I need to take the same steps to keep a secondary fermenter cool? And what about the bottles once they're conditioning?

Ah, thanks for the advice. One more question: I was under the (very general, I'm sure) impression that ale yeasts are okay in the 70s, and it was lager yeasts that needed to be in the 60s and below. I'm curious because, even if I don't brew the stout this time, I will most definitely want to get...